SoBro neighbors object to police precinct near Music City Center

Metro unlikely to change plans for Central police site

May 7, 2013

The Korean Veterans Boulevard extension opened in April. A Metro Police precinct is planned for land that fronts a new Nashville Electric Service substation at Korean Veterans Boulevard and Sixth Avenue. / Jae S. Lee / File / The Tennessean

Written by

Joey Garrison

The Tennessean

A new downtown Metro Police precinct pegged for land next to Nashville’s new convention center has stirred opposition from SoBro neighbors who fear it would hinder what is supposed to be a vibrant corridor along the city’s signature civic building, Music City Center.

Yet halting the project at this point would require some major back-tracking.

The Metro Council approved funding for the $4 million central precinct months ago. Nashville’s Convention Center Authority has voted to oversee its construction. And Mayor Karl Dean’s administration is showing no signs of retreating.

“The location for the replacement Central Precinct has been determined,” Dean’s press secretary, Bonna Johnson, said in a statement, noting $200,000 in planning already spent and an expected ground-breaking as early as this month.

Property and business owners near the planned site — a city-owned sliver of land that fronts a new Nashville Electric Service substation at Korean Veterans Boulevard and Sixth Avenue — have outlined concerns in an online petition that has 117 signatures. They’ve asked Dean to explore alternate sites, including property south of Lafayette Street off Ewing Avenue, current home of the FAB Warehouse.

“There’s several people who think this is a poor use of property on the most expensive roadway that the city has ever built,” said Shelby Smith, who owns development-ready land near the center and has led opposition.

The new police precinct would replace one that operates from inside Bridgestone Arena. The plan features no on-site parking. Instead, police vehicles would park in the center’s garage or line up on the new boulevard, a scenario Smith said doesn’t serve the area well.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Smith, noting the city would lose out on parking meter revenue. “There’s only 51 parking spaces on both sides of the road. Those should be for visitors to the city — don’t you think?”

Opponents of the police precinct also contend the city could find an alternative where it would be cheaper to build. Further, some say greater police presence is needed a few blocks to the south in the surrounding Lafayette Street area, which includes the Nashville Rescue Mission, routinely blamed for an uptick in crime and vandalism.

“Just by physically being in the area, the less-savory element of society are going to be aware of that,” said Jim DeVault, who owns a residential building in the Lafayette neighborhood.

Johnson said the Korean Veterans Boulevard site is appealing because Metro already owns the property, adding that it’s too small to develop for commercial purposes. “There is no question that the selected site is the most cost-effective location for the precinct,” she said.

Meanwhile, some property-owners along the city’s stretch of honky-tonk bars support the KVB location. “That’s going to be the center of where all the pedestrians are going to be,” said Brenda Sanderson, who owns four establishments on Broadway. “It’s important they feel safe.”

No community meetings took place in advance of the council’s vote on the police precinct, which might explain the late-budding opposition.

Councilwoman Erica Gilmore, who represents the area, called her constituents’ concerns “valid,” adding that she’s working on how to appropriately address them. She plans to reach out to Convention Center Authority officials.

She said she hopes to make the process more transparent and might organize a future meeting on the issue.